


we are the war

by starboykeith



Series: SHEITH MONTH 2017 [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Blood and Gore, Established Relationship, M/M, Major Character Injury, Sheith Month 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-12 09:39:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11734392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starboykeith/pseuds/starboykeith
Summary: It didn't hurt as much as it should have when the blaster tore a hole in his chest.





	we are the war

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt 'death' for day twenty eight of sheith month 2017
> 
> for what it's worth, i'm sorry
> 
> title from ego by indila

It didn't hurt as much as it should have when the blaster tore a hole in his chest.   
  
Shiro screams, broken and piercing, and Keith exhales shakily and knocks his assailant's legs out from under him, sending the alien crashing to the floor and making it easy for Keith to summon his bayard and slit their throat. The last one, he tells himself, it was the last one, and now everything will be okay.   
  
When he takes a moment to glance down, he has to swallow his nausea.   
  
His breastplate is shattered, caved in, shards tearing open skin that feels thin as paper, and the wound underneath is gaping, bubbling blood over raw, screaming flesh that hisses and burns under the open air. Keith feels sick to his stomach, and his legs support him one second longer as he lands painfully on his knees.   
  
He can see Shiro - his vision is blurring and coming in flashes, but he can see him - and Shiro is still propped against the tree where Keith had dragged him, careful of the gouge splitting open Shiro's stomach. There's a blaster in his hand, pointed this way, pointed at _Keith_ , and for one horrible moment Keith thinks Shiro is going to kill him.   
  
Shiro fires.   
  
Keith watches the shot approach in slow-motion, blinking hard to clear his eyes, blurring now with tears and not unconsciousness. It would have been out of love, out of a desire to end Keith's pain before it could begin, but Keith can't breathe with the thought that Shiro would not allow them to be together when it happened.   
  
The shot sails over his head, and hits the alien creeping up behind him, knife in hand.   
  
He doesn't have the strength to burst into uncontrollable, convulsing tears, but his eyes burn and his cheeks grow wet because he really thought Shiro, his Shiro, would kill him, would not sit with him as he did it, would not tell Keith he loved him one last time.   
  
When he turns around, Shiro has slumped further, the blaster fallen from his limp hand, eyes slipping closed.   
  
"No," Keith croaks, and he falls when he tries to move, legs folding under him, wound forgotten in favour of the sharp pain in his heart because _no, not Shiro, Shiro can't be_  -   
  
"Keith," comes Shiro's voice, soft and horribly weak, and Keith raises his head.   
  
"Shiro," he rasps, and Shiro's dull eyes fix on him as he crawls painfully over to the tree, dragging his unresponsive leg behind him. He thinks it might be broken. He doesn't remember when it happened.   
  
It takes years to reach Shiro's side, blood dripping from his open chest and muscles screaming as he forces them to move, and Keith knows he uses the last of his strength when he crawls into Shiro's arms.   
  
Shiro makes an awful noise, a strangled noise in the back of his throat when Keith brushes his wound, but Keith collapses against his undamaged side, and Shiro raises a shaking arm and puts it around him.   
  
Pain starts to seep into his senses, a throbbing in his leg, a burn in the centre of his chest where flesh screams and sizzles and stings, blood flowing under and over what remains of his armour, making his skin tacky with sweat and blood and grime. The feeling is still muted, and Keith thinks he is going numb, but he can't identify what he cannot feel, and he thinks maybe it doesn't matter anymore, anyway.   
  
"Hey," Shiro says, and Keith cracks his neck with how fast he turns to look. "We - we got 'em all."   
  
Keith's laugh burns his throat. "Yeah, we did," he says, and coughs, and once he starts coughing he can't stop, feeling like his lungs are clawing their way from his chest, mouth so dry and full of blood he can't swallow it down. Shiro moves again, and he takes Keith's hand. Shiro's elbow is in his own wound, but Keith does not want to let go.   
  
Shiro's other hand goes up into Keith's hair, just resting, because he lost the strength to move it a while ago.   
  
Keith doesn't want to die first, doesn't want Shiro to watch him go, but more senses crawl away from him by the minute, black fuzz darkening the edges of his vision that he can't blink away, and he holds tighter and tighter to Shiro's limp hand, ears straining for the weak rasp of Shiro's breathing.   
  
No one will come for them now, he knows. The others were too out of range when they landed, and no one could reach them fast enough when Keith had screamed for help, before their assailants had smashed their helmets. He hopes Pidge will at least track their last-known location. Keith doesn't have a real family, but Shiro does.   
  
And here Shiro is, dying in Keith's arms on some unknown planet in the corner of the universe.   
  
Keith starts to choke again, and it goes on for longer this time until Keith feels it will never end, and Shiro can't move to help, his grip on Keith's hand as tight as he can make it and his fingers steadying Keith's head as he twitches violently with his convulsing body dragging him down, down, down.   
  
"I love you," Keith gasps out, choking on his own gurgling blood. "Shiro, I love you, I love - "   
  
"Don't talk," Shiro whispers. "I've got you, I love you."   
  
The warmth in Keith's chest is from the unending spill of blood, not Shiro's love, but it's that too.   
  
Keith doesn't want to stop talking, wants his voice and his love to be the last thing Shiro hears, wants the same for himself in his vast uncontrollable selfishness, wants Shiro's voice to lull him to sleep one last time.   
  
"I've got you," Shiro says again, and again, "I love you, Keith, I'll see you soon, I love you - "   
  
"I love you," Keith murmurs. Shiro's fingers twitch in his. "I love you," he says, and the world starts going black.   
  
"I love you," he hears, and isn't sure which of them said it.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment if you enjoyed, and subscribe to my profile or this series if you'd like to read more of my sheith month fics!
> 
> you can find me on twitter at twitter.com/starboysheith, and tumblr at starboykeith.tumblr.com !


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